SergntMac
04-15-2003, 12:20 AM
Sorry for a long post, but I have a lot to share with y'all.
Dennis Rienhart doesn't talk much, but he says a lot. He called me one day a few weeks ago, before war broke out, and said "send this guy an e-mail, do what he says." "Okay, I'm on it," and I was right on it. The e-mail went to the guys from www.FordChip.com Jerry, Alberto and Pete. They were scheduling their visit to the Chicago area in April to do a Team Ford Power Tune, and somehow I made their guest list.
I followed their instructions to contact Dyno Pro Performance, Inc., a speed shop in Wauconda, IL., and reserve a time slot with a deposit (www.dynoproauto.com). I made the 11 April date by a nose...Whew! I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I wasn't totally clueless either. I put this post together, hoping y'all take my advice on this.
DO IT! If you do, here's what you may expect.
I got there early and I was #3 waiting in line. I'm glad to have had the time to watch the operation unfold, it's quite an experience. Jerry does all the computer programming, Pete, does the foot work, Alberto didn't make this trip. Their home base is somewhere in Michigan, and their home page, www.FordChip.com has their Spring schedule posted. Visit their site and see where you can squeeze yourself in, this is a MUST DO mod and in my opinion, well worth any road trip to get hooked up with these guys.
I may be a bit off on the fine detail here, but I couldn't watch everyone, eh? So, this is what I think happened.
First, Pete pulled my ECM and RPC, and checked the hardware. That declared good, Jerry dumps my ECM and chip data into a computer where he can manipulate that stuff there. Then Jerry dumps my data into a "live" ECM, where he can manipulate my car. Later, Pete installs that live ECM and chip into my car.
My turn on the dyno, C. J. and Angelo from Dyno Pro, run the dyno very smartly. They do the "base" pull to get my lady's "profile." The numbers come in lower that what I have seen before, but this is a different style of dyno too. Change dynos, and you change numbers, deal with it. However, the DynoJet is established in the industry, good reputation and well know for it's accuracy and dependability, NASCAR and Winston Cup techs use it in their tear downs and inspections. I'll agree to these numbers, and the base dyno reports 261 RWHP and 281 RWTQ. AFR was dangerously lean at 14.9.
Immediately, Jerry begins his "live" tweaking, and orders a second pull. He tweaks more and again, and orders a third pull. I don't know what results Jerry got in his pulls, but he and Pete pause to "interview" me about how I drive the car, and what I want to accomplish. I told them that I'm not inclined to race this car at the strip. I will be going out once or twice just to get some time slips, but I'm not a player anymore. Then I add "but, I will win at the stop light, got it?" Jerry smiles, and does some more tweaking. I also remind him that I want a valet mode on the chip for safety reasons, and I wanted the torque converter to lock up and stay locked up, after the 2-3 shift. Jerry says, "I know, I spoke to Dennis on the way in." Jerry fiddles some more, and does the final pull.
Now I'm looking at 271.7 RWHP, 293.7 RWTQ, AFR 12.5, the fuel trim sweet spot! Everyone around me is quite excited about my numbers, lots of compliments from these Cobra owners. Jerry copies everything back to his laptop, and again to my ECM and chip. Pete returns my ECM and chip to my car, all very tidy too. Total time, 45-50 minutes.
What I see in the final dyno sheet, is that all my power comes on down in front, and it doesn't quit throughout the pull. At a mere 1900 RPM, I'm pushing 233 ft-LB of torque to the rear wheels, and it climbs from there. Same for the HP, it's all out down low, and the "power curve" is relatively flat from there. Everything is ON from the launch, the only thing changing is my traction and speed. I'll probably end up running a low 1/8 mile ET, and pay for that with an average 1/4 mile ET, but that's what I asked for, yes?
On the road home, once again I get a new car to learn how to drive. Despite my lower dyno numbers, this car has never been this quick! My traction problems just got worse. My "too lean" AFR must have been one of the culprits. But now, she's straight and fast off the line, all shifts at 6000 RPM. The only way this car can launch any faster is to supercharge and as I write this now, I see no reason to spend the money. I know this sounds like I'm bragging and I don't brag, but very few cars on the road right now will beat me from a standing start. I spoke about the changes in my Stallion TC in another thread earlier today, but let me cover it again, so y'all don't miss this important 411.
In third gear, normal cruising, the TC locks up crisply at 2000 RPM sharp. Perfect. In OD, it locks at 1000 RPM. Once locked, the car has all the characteristics of a manual tranny. Take your foot off the gas, the car stays loaded, and grumbles very nicely as it slows down from the manual tranny type of drag. When it's slow enough, you can feel a light down shift to second gear, while the grumbles continue until you slow enough to feel the down shift to first gear. It's subtle, but there.
Apply firm brake at any time in this process, and the TC unlocks, allowing you to coast freely while the motor returns to idle speeds. If at any time during your slow down, you get back into the power, she goes with the gear she's in until 6000 RPM. Push to WOT, and she launches all over again. Push to WOT while unlocked, and you will get the program with the pause we have come to know and "love" as a characteristic of the MM power train.
It's a real joy to feel the control of a manual transmission again. BTW, the lock up at lower speeds is pronounced, you feel as if you have a five speed now. This would be perfect shifting in a chase, as long as it's in the cop's car! That's why I asked for a "valet" mode on the flip chip. I'd hate like hell to have a cop get hurt chasing my car, but Jerry has a plan for that too.
I still have my stock programming available by throwing the switch to off. My new valet mode is switch full on, and it's OEM programming with a 50 MPH limiter. When you hit 50 MPH, your done. You can cruise all day below 50, but the harder and longer you try to go faster, the slower the car gets until it stops. Restart and try it again, it all just repeats itself. Center switch position is my RPC with my custom program, and just to remind you, the car must be shut off and restarted for any change to take affect. There are two color LEDs available for the RPC "flip" switch, green and red and off. The off color is gray and that blends very well with our dot matrix dash trim. Dennis should have this valet mode available for y'all soon. I like it because if I forget to reset the chip, I can still drive safely until I can reset it by restarting the car.
I did not raise my idle under load because 550-575 RPM idle is okay with me. My lights dim at idle under load, but I monitor my altenator output with the CarChip thingy and I'm never below 12.5 volts. What I didn't want to give up, was my stealth standing start. If I brake her just right at the stop light, I can release the brake before my launch. To get the car to sit still, I hold the brake firm and tap the accelerator lightly. After the motor drops back to idle again, I can release the brake and not crawl forward. Even with my Z-55 turbo mufflers, she's very quiet at rest at a stop light, and when it's time, I just hit it hard and she goes. No more bogging, of any sort. Immediate response, clean, hard and quick. You have to hold on with both hands though, she will try to come around on you.
As similar as our cars should be, each MM developes it's own personality, and this power tuning refines and tailors each MM to it's owner. We get a real power boost from the Reinhart chip, but should one size fit all? I think not. This is the best way to tie up all your mods, whatever stage you're at, in a "season to taste" way. A power tune will flush out all your max performance, it should improve a bone stock MM too. A Team Ford Power Tune should be your next mod, get your black leather jacket to fit you just right.
Check Team Ford's schedule at the FordChip site, they are moving all around the country this spring. Jerry says he'll come back to the Chicago area anytime, once we get enough MMs signed up. Chicagoland guys, you listening? The Dyno Pro people say they can install our mods with an appointment, BYOP, wouldn't that be a day! The cost here is 80 bucks to Dyno Pro, and 150 bucks to Team Ford...Whoops, can I say that? So, get your parts from Dennis, get them installed at Dyno Pro, and wrap it all up nicely with a Team Ford Power Tune. You won't be sorry.
PS to Logan/LML...Hope I haven't broken any MM.Net rules here. If so, feel free to edit.
Dennis Rienhart doesn't talk much, but he says a lot. He called me one day a few weeks ago, before war broke out, and said "send this guy an e-mail, do what he says." "Okay, I'm on it," and I was right on it. The e-mail went to the guys from www.FordChip.com Jerry, Alberto and Pete. They were scheduling their visit to the Chicago area in April to do a Team Ford Power Tune, and somehow I made their guest list.
I followed their instructions to contact Dyno Pro Performance, Inc., a speed shop in Wauconda, IL., and reserve a time slot with a deposit (www.dynoproauto.com). I made the 11 April date by a nose...Whew! I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I wasn't totally clueless either. I put this post together, hoping y'all take my advice on this.
DO IT! If you do, here's what you may expect.
I got there early and I was #3 waiting in line. I'm glad to have had the time to watch the operation unfold, it's quite an experience. Jerry does all the computer programming, Pete, does the foot work, Alberto didn't make this trip. Their home base is somewhere in Michigan, and their home page, www.FordChip.com has their Spring schedule posted. Visit their site and see where you can squeeze yourself in, this is a MUST DO mod and in my opinion, well worth any road trip to get hooked up with these guys.
I may be a bit off on the fine detail here, but I couldn't watch everyone, eh? So, this is what I think happened.
First, Pete pulled my ECM and RPC, and checked the hardware. That declared good, Jerry dumps my ECM and chip data into a computer where he can manipulate that stuff there. Then Jerry dumps my data into a "live" ECM, where he can manipulate my car. Later, Pete installs that live ECM and chip into my car.
My turn on the dyno, C. J. and Angelo from Dyno Pro, run the dyno very smartly. They do the "base" pull to get my lady's "profile." The numbers come in lower that what I have seen before, but this is a different style of dyno too. Change dynos, and you change numbers, deal with it. However, the DynoJet is established in the industry, good reputation and well know for it's accuracy and dependability, NASCAR and Winston Cup techs use it in their tear downs and inspections. I'll agree to these numbers, and the base dyno reports 261 RWHP and 281 RWTQ. AFR was dangerously lean at 14.9.
Immediately, Jerry begins his "live" tweaking, and orders a second pull. He tweaks more and again, and orders a third pull. I don't know what results Jerry got in his pulls, but he and Pete pause to "interview" me about how I drive the car, and what I want to accomplish. I told them that I'm not inclined to race this car at the strip. I will be going out once or twice just to get some time slips, but I'm not a player anymore. Then I add "but, I will win at the stop light, got it?" Jerry smiles, and does some more tweaking. I also remind him that I want a valet mode on the chip for safety reasons, and I wanted the torque converter to lock up and stay locked up, after the 2-3 shift. Jerry says, "I know, I spoke to Dennis on the way in." Jerry fiddles some more, and does the final pull.
Now I'm looking at 271.7 RWHP, 293.7 RWTQ, AFR 12.5, the fuel trim sweet spot! Everyone around me is quite excited about my numbers, lots of compliments from these Cobra owners. Jerry copies everything back to his laptop, and again to my ECM and chip. Pete returns my ECM and chip to my car, all very tidy too. Total time, 45-50 minutes.
What I see in the final dyno sheet, is that all my power comes on down in front, and it doesn't quit throughout the pull. At a mere 1900 RPM, I'm pushing 233 ft-LB of torque to the rear wheels, and it climbs from there. Same for the HP, it's all out down low, and the "power curve" is relatively flat from there. Everything is ON from the launch, the only thing changing is my traction and speed. I'll probably end up running a low 1/8 mile ET, and pay for that with an average 1/4 mile ET, but that's what I asked for, yes?
On the road home, once again I get a new car to learn how to drive. Despite my lower dyno numbers, this car has never been this quick! My traction problems just got worse. My "too lean" AFR must have been one of the culprits. But now, she's straight and fast off the line, all shifts at 6000 RPM. The only way this car can launch any faster is to supercharge and as I write this now, I see no reason to spend the money. I know this sounds like I'm bragging and I don't brag, but very few cars on the road right now will beat me from a standing start. I spoke about the changes in my Stallion TC in another thread earlier today, but let me cover it again, so y'all don't miss this important 411.
In third gear, normal cruising, the TC locks up crisply at 2000 RPM sharp. Perfect. In OD, it locks at 1000 RPM. Once locked, the car has all the characteristics of a manual tranny. Take your foot off the gas, the car stays loaded, and grumbles very nicely as it slows down from the manual tranny type of drag. When it's slow enough, you can feel a light down shift to second gear, while the grumbles continue until you slow enough to feel the down shift to first gear. It's subtle, but there.
Apply firm brake at any time in this process, and the TC unlocks, allowing you to coast freely while the motor returns to idle speeds. If at any time during your slow down, you get back into the power, she goes with the gear she's in until 6000 RPM. Push to WOT, and she launches all over again. Push to WOT while unlocked, and you will get the program with the pause we have come to know and "love" as a characteristic of the MM power train.
It's a real joy to feel the control of a manual transmission again. BTW, the lock up at lower speeds is pronounced, you feel as if you have a five speed now. This would be perfect shifting in a chase, as long as it's in the cop's car! That's why I asked for a "valet" mode on the flip chip. I'd hate like hell to have a cop get hurt chasing my car, but Jerry has a plan for that too.
I still have my stock programming available by throwing the switch to off. My new valet mode is switch full on, and it's OEM programming with a 50 MPH limiter. When you hit 50 MPH, your done. You can cruise all day below 50, but the harder and longer you try to go faster, the slower the car gets until it stops. Restart and try it again, it all just repeats itself. Center switch position is my RPC with my custom program, and just to remind you, the car must be shut off and restarted for any change to take affect. There are two color LEDs available for the RPC "flip" switch, green and red and off. The off color is gray and that blends very well with our dot matrix dash trim. Dennis should have this valet mode available for y'all soon. I like it because if I forget to reset the chip, I can still drive safely until I can reset it by restarting the car.
I did not raise my idle under load because 550-575 RPM idle is okay with me. My lights dim at idle under load, but I monitor my altenator output with the CarChip thingy and I'm never below 12.5 volts. What I didn't want to give up, was my stealth standing start. If I brake her just right at the stop light, I can release the brake before my launch. To get the car to sit still, I hold the brake firm and tap the accelerator lightly. After the motor drops back to idle again, I can release the brake and not crawl forward. Even with my Z-55 turbo mufflers, she's very quiet at rest at a stop light, and when it's time, I just hit it hard and she goes. No more bogging, of any sort. Immediate response, clean, hard and quick. You have to hold on with both hands though, she will try to come around on you.
As similar as our cars should be, each MM developes it's own personality, and this power tuning refines and tailors each MM to it's owner. We get a real power boost from the Reinhart chip, but should one size fit all? I think not. This is the best way to tie up all your mods, whatever stage you're at, in a "season to taste" way. A power tune will flush out all your max performance, it should improve a bone stock MM too. A Team Ford Power Tune should be your next mod, get your black leather jacket to fit you just right.
Check Team Ford's schedule at the FordChip site, they are moving all around the country this spring. Jerry says he'll come back to the Chicago area anytime, once we get enough MMs signed up. Chicagoland guys, you listening? The Dyno Pro people say they can install our mods with an appointment, BYOP, wouldn't that be a day! The cost here is 80 bucks to Dyno Pro, and 150 bucks to Team Ford...Whoops, can I say that? So, get your parts from Dennis, get them installed at Dyno Pro, and wrap it all up nicely with a Team Ford Power Tune. You won't be sorry.
PS to Logan/LML...Hope I haven't broken any MM.Net rules here. If so, feel free to edit.